We all saw pre-election man-on-the-street interviews, inquiring of Barack Obama supporters why they intended to vote for him. "He's gonna bring change..." was the standard response.

Well, what accomplishments of his do you admire?

---Crickets---

What policies of his do you support?

Hmmmm....

What experience does he have that qualifies him to be president?

Ummmm... 

This was painfully illustrated when Howard Stern (more conservative than you may think!) sent a reporter into the streets to ask such questions, but he sharply clarified the sheer ignorance of the electorate by attributing John McCain's views to Barack Obama to see if the mind-numbed robots being queried had educated themselves on the candidates' basic policy differences.

Agree with Obama's strong pro-life stance?

Absolutely!

Agree with Obama that we need to keep the troops in Iraq until the war is won?

You bet!

Oy vey.

If this were not such a serious election with such grave issues in the world, it would have been humorous but instead made me sad and terrified for my country and the disservice its electorate was doing her.

At the core of the problem is the tendency for voters, it seems to me, liberals disproportionately so, to vote with their hearts and not with their heads.  Call us conservatives cold-hearted or pragmatic - we have been called worse.  If I may be so bold as to speak for the conservatives in this country, we tend to actually knock the issues around in our gray matter to determine if a candidate meets our standards. 

For example, when Sarah Palin ignited a trembling fervor in conservatives not felt since Ronald Reagan, it was not due to Messianic-cult-of-personality-worship or because she has two X chromosomes or a fascinating lifestyle. It was because when we did our mental pro/con lists, she met our standards for a conservative politician.

She firmly adheres to her side of each issue and bears these beliefs out in her every day life (respect for God’s precious children, for example). In spite of the petty attacks by the mainstream media and lies spread by her own campaign staffers, Sarah Palin demonstrated herself to be a thinking, fierce, principled woman who articulates these beliefs in the language of the common American.

It will take a long time for me to trust the American electorate again. As for the media? Who knows? They may be in the doghouse for generations.

I am not blind to the fact that our candidate, the self-styled “straight-talker”, failed to adequately educate the American people about the state of the country and the world and how he intended to get this train back on the tracks. Nor am I blind to the fact that, conversely, their candidate exhibited extraordinary adeptness at brainwashing the electorate with bumper sticker slogans while simultaneously tiptoeing around every uncomfortable issue, lying about his record, and denying knowledge about all the numerous low-life creeps in his past.

Amazing. No wonder the voting public was confused. They were hypnotized by the “cool and calm” factor and by the ability to schmooze catty women on morning chat fests.  It was easier to just swallow the media’s information puree so we wouldn’t have to think about or research basic issues.

Like voting for infanticide.

…slamming small-town folk as bitter.

…accusing the very men and women he claimed to want to lead as Commander-in-Chief of air-raiding villages. 

…the desire to shut down free speech via the Fairness Doctrine.

…handing out “rebate” checks to people who don’t pay income tax.

At the end of President Obama’s four year term, I can only hope that his record as America’s most leftist President will speak for itself so the electorate can come out of the Obama-fog and see him clearly for what he truly represents and avoid that painful thing called…thinking.